The present invention pertains to vehicle visors, and particularly to a visor which collapses for storage and extends for use.
With modern vehicle design and particularly with attention now being paid to detail in interior design, visor construction and storage in vehicles is becoming an increasingly difficult problem to solve. Typically, visors are large planar blades or panels of light opaque or translucent material which are pivoted by pivot mechanisms between lowered use positions and raised stored positions adjacent the headliner, or in some cases, recessed within a pocket formed in the vehicle headliner or roof area. As windshields become more streamlined and raked rearwardly, the headliner/windshield interface tends to move rearwardly, and in some vehicles, such conventional sun visors are not practical. As the thickness of the headliner diminishes, concealed visors, such as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 403,567, entitled CONCEALED VISOR and filed on July 30, 1982 also become more difficult to implement.
In order to accommodate storage of relatively large visors, visors can be divided into separate interconnected panels, and the prior art is replete with examples of such construction. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,345,106; 1,957,847; 1,925,123; 1,990,413; 2,029,534; 2,070,208; 2,118,198; 2,231,641; 2,492,074; 2,528,038; 2,842,395; 3,369,838; and Great Britain Pat. No. 307,145. This prior art discloses visor construction which is of a size considered unwiedly and unsafe for modern vehicles. Although providing interesting historical visor designs in antique vehicles, such construction has no relevance or application to present day modern visor design with increasing emphasis on interior design functionality and appearance.